Mixed Tapes, well CDs
by MissMarple2000
Summary: Maura makes a Mixed CD. This one has been in my head for a bit, so I'll play with it for a while. The story starts and they are just friends, it may change...who knows, it's their story.
1. Chapter 1

If you ask me what I was doing right at that precise moment it happened, I'd absolutely tell you that I was chopping vegetables, simply chopping vegetables. Sure I was completely up and in my head at the time, but Maura was totally to blame for it...she was totally to blame for all of it...

_**The previous Saturday**_

As per our usual Saturday, Maura had run me ragged. If it wasn't one thing, it was another, I liked to refer to these days as "errand days." The light at the end of the tunnel, Saturday night cooking at Maura's. We'd eat dinner, have some drinks...stay up to late watching television and then to bed. Nothing could beat it. That particular night we were watching Say Anything.

Remember the scene where John Cusack holds the boom box over his head and its blasting "In your eyes"? Of course you do, because more than most likely you are not named Maura. :-) Anyway, when the scene came on I mentioned something along the lines of "ooooohhh, this song made it into every mixed tape I made for years."

Maura, reached for the remote and paused the dvd, "mixed tape?" Her brow furrowed in thought.

"Yeah Maur, a mixed tape." She continued to look at me in a state of confusion and I smiled, google mouth didn't know everything.

"Mixed tapes were a big deal growing up. You choose songs, mainly mainstream songs and record them in a sequence that makes sense." She looked at me even more confused...truth be told, I was confusing myself. I opted for the simple explanation.

If you liked someone, you would make them a mixed tape. You'd record every song that reminded you of them and then listen to ad nausea."

I smiled brightly at her and she looked at me and asked, "Did you give the tape to the person?"

"Hell no," I said as I got up to get another beer. She stood and then followed me to her kitchen.

"So what is the point? If you don't give it to them, why all the work?"

"Ummmm, because..." I stammered and then it came to me, "because it's just something to do. It wasn't a big deal."

Maura looked at me quizzically and then told me very matter of factly, "A mixed tape is done to set a mood, tell a story. For all intensive purposes, the songs selected would tell a story without having to actually express your actual thoughts into words, correct?"

I smiled, "See, you got it."

Maura stared off for a few seconds, it felt like minutes. Then she looked at me with a rather determined look on her face, "yes, Jane. I do and now I'm going to have to ask you to leave. I'm going to create a 'mixed cd' but I need to concentrate and you'll distract. Come over for dinner tomorrow, I'll send you text tomorrow at noon with what you'll making us for dinner."

Then she all but shoved me out the door.

Stranger things were to come...


	2. Chapter 2

To say I was absolutely and completely confused by Maura's actions would be an understatement. You'd have to throw in the fact that I was also thoroughly and utterly shocked. There I stood, on her porch, staring at the door she had just shut. I had tried to reason with her as she helped me find my shoes, my keys...my million other things I'd need but she was having none of it.

I stood there thinking that she would come rushing out to try to catch me so I decided I would just wait it out to save her the effort. After five minutes I got a little antsy but figured she had gotten distracted. After 10 minutes I realized that she was in fact serious, that she needed time to herself...to make a cd. I chuckled to myself, walked to my car and drove home knowing I'd see her the next night.

It wasn't meant to be, at 2:30am Sunday morning I got called out on the first of four cases that kept us busy over the course of the next week. It's not that I didn't see Maura that week, I did, but it was well, for lack of better words, strained. Not in a bad "oh, we aren't going to be friends ever again" way, but she was distracted Instead of stealing moments away together, as we normally would have, I hardly saw her unless we were at the crime scene or in the morgue discussing a case.

It was strange and by Thursday I was frustrated, all I wanted was to be with my best friend, I missed her. We had spent every, single night since Saturday a part. There were no dinners, no drinks at the Dirty Robber, no quick breaks, no harassment over my choice of breakfast...it was just getting weird and I didn't like it.

Just as I resolved myself to go visit with Maura, I looked up and saw her walking towards me. A smile playing on her lips, my instinct was to get up and just hug her. This was "my Maura" coming to me, not the weird distant Maura of this past week. I grinned at her and stood up.

"Want to walk me downstairs?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and small smile.

I took a few steps towards her and touched her arm lightly. She smiled at me and we walked out together. "I'm sorry I've been so busy this week but my mixed cd is almost done. I'm going to listen to it a few more times just to make sure I've got the 'feel' of it correct but I'd like you to come over to hear it on Saturday night."

We had made it to the elevators and paused waiting for it to open, "sure," I said in a hushed tone.

She smiled and looked at the floor, "can you make us dinner?"

"Yes," I whispered. I had to stop myself from taking her hand, from telling her I was really very happy to know we'd be alone together. I answered as if we were sharing a secret, planning a rendezvous. Something had changed, I nervously chuckled and Maura turned slightly to look at me.

"Sorry," I began, "it just sounds like we are planning a date."

She turned back to face the elevator doors, quiet, so unlike her. I touched the small of her back to guide her into the elevator as the doors opened. Once inside she turned to me and finally she smiled...a deep smile, one I hadn't seen before...and trust me, I knew all of Maura's smiles and this one was a mix of two, one I knew for certain. It was the smile she gave me when she wanted me to figure something out but there was something else there...something deeper, I just couldn't put my finger on it and before I could get in the elevator with her, the door shut.

Note: I had to upload this from my phone but hopefully iIsis not distorted. The good news, I proofread this time.


End file.
